Sampras Dazzles Muster in Australian Semifinal

Pete Sampras exposed all the glitches in Thomas Muster’s computer program, baffling him from the baseline and confounding him all over the court today to reach the final of the Australian Open at Melbourne.

Not content simply to serve 16 aces and rule at the net with his usual flair, Sampras came up with the most unexpected shots in a 6-1, 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 triumph that moved him within one win of his second Australian title and ninth Grand Slam tennis tournament championship.

Facing Sampras in Sunday’s final will be Spain’s Carlos Moya, who has gone from obscurity to stardom after beating defending champion Boris Becker in the first round and second-seeded Michael Chang in the semifinals.

Muster, who had programmed Sampras’ style and tendencies into a computer in hopes of upsetting the world’s top-ranked player, couldn’t have entered such shots as the lob that Sampras ran down or the running backhand that flew ankle-high around the post for a winner in the corner.

Martina Hingis, the 16-year-old Swiss prodigy, will take on France’s Mary Pierce in the women’s final. Hingis is trying to become the youngest Australian Open champion and the youngest Grand Slam singles winner since Charlotte “Lottie” Dod triumphed at Wimbledon in 1887 at 15.

Boxing

Rafael Ruelas, in his first fight at the Reseda Country Club in almost four years, scored a second-round technical knockout over Javier Arce in a super-lightweight bout.

Ruelas, a former International Boxing Federation lightweight champion, improved to 48-3 with 38 knockouts. Arce is 15-11-1.

Pernell Whitaker will face Diobelis Hurtado tonight in Atlantic City, N.J., in a tune-up bout for his April 12 fight against Oscar De La Hoya.

Pro Football

Dick Vermeil, new St. Louis Ram coach and president of football operations, has fired vice president of football operations Steve Ortmayer. Ortmayer, 52, had acted as general manager since the move to St. Louis from Anaheim two years ago. . . . Atlanta Coach Dan Reeves added five former New York Giant assistants to his staff: Reeves named Don Blackmon, James Daniel, George Sefcik, Joe DeCamillis and Al Miller. The Giants hired Jim Skipper as their offensive coordinator.

Baseball

Relief pitcher Duane Ward agreed to a minor league contract with the Texas Rangers, another step in his long comeback from arm surgery. . . . The Oakland Athletics signed free-agent infielder Dave Magadan to a minor league contract. . . . Baseball’s summit meeting to develop a conduct code for players and umpires, called for after the Roberto Alomar spitting incident, has been rescheduled for Feb. 4 in Palm Beach, Fla.

Winter Sports

Martina Ertl of Germany tore her left knee ligaments in a spill during a downhill training session. The accident occurred at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy, where skiers are training for the World Alpine Ski Championships. . . . Bernd Kroschewski won on the men’s side and Heidi Renoth won on the women’s side in the World Snowboarding Championships at San Candido, Italy. . . . Alexei Urmanov won the men’s title in the European Figure Skating Championships at Paris. . . . Fabrice Becker of France won the World Cup acro-skiing event at Breckenridge, Colo. Elena Batalova of Russia won the women’s division.

Miscellany

Five of the 16 Ethiopian soccer players who had sought political asylum in Italy withdrew their request and asked to return home, police said in Rome. Meanwhile, an official of the Ethiopian Football Federation denied reports that Ethiopia had withdrawn from the Africa Nations Cup because of the defections.

A prosecutor in Bursa, Turkey, charged former NBA players Dallas Comegys and Larry Spriggs with taking part in a nightclub brawl that left one person dead. They could face up to five years in prison if found guilty.

The Taco Bell Newport Classic Pro-Am, a $100,000 two-day golf tournament featuring Nike Tour players and fringe PGA Tour players, begins today at the Newport Beach Country Club. Four LPGA players, including Muffin Spencer-Devlin, are also playing.

Names in the News

Texas Pan-American baseball Coach Al Ogletree, 67, the winningest active coach in Division I, announced he will retire after this season. Ogletree, whose career record is 1,187-689, will begin his 29th season. . . . Enio Andrade, the former Brazilian soccer star who won a record three national soccer championships as a coach, died at 67 of lung cancer in his hometown of Porto Alegre. . . . Murray State filled its vacant football coaching position by naming Oklahoma assistant Denver Johnson.